Sedation Dentistry

I'm still a little loopy writing this, but oh well.

I hate going to the dentist. When I was in third grade they spent an afternoon pulling out six baby teeth and four permanent teeth out of the bone. They said I had Volkswagen mouth and a Cadillac teeth - just no room. Shortly after that healed, they put braces on me for two years, and then tortured me every month adjusting them. Not fun at all. Then, just as I was getting my braces off, all the cool kids were getting theirs put on.

That all lead to me pretty much only going to the dentist if/when absolutely necessary.

Now, thank God I don't get cavities. Unfortunately I have terrible gums that I tend to neglect. And it at every dentist I've been to since moving out of Austin has kinda sucked. It always feels like they're trying to punish you by being as rough as possible during cleanings.

This year I am able to be on Nerdstar's work's dental insurance and decided it was time to suck it up. I've heard the sedation dentistry commercials for years and decided to find a local one that offers it. I found a very nice lady dentist who assured me it would all be fine.

The way it works is you take a pill to help you sleep the night before, then take 3 more pills an hour before your apt. in the morning. You're pretty darn loopy, but not totally knocked out. They kept saying I just wouldn't remember what happened. Now, I've never even been drunk enough to not remember something - so that seemed weird to me.

Nerdstar has to be with me all day to keep an eye on me. And while I can remember bits and pieces of being at the dentist for almost 3 hours, I honestly don't remember much. This is really great.

I did come home and sleep soundly for another 3 hours, and walking takes a lots of concentration. I'm sure I'll be all fine tomorrow morning.

I'll have a follow up apt. next week to see if they found anything else that needs work. I know they're going to want to take out my one errant wisdom tooth. Today went well enough I just might let them.

Glamour shot time!

Of the incredible stretched marked belly! Yes, after having been able to avoid it for much of the pregnancy, not even I can hold them at bay any longer! In fact, it took me a while before I could see them since they were on the underside of the belly that was hard to see.

Wall Decor

We got a couple of little things to put up on Noah's walls recently.


These are actually some cheap little handkerchiefs from Taiwan that I finally found some frames for. They're just so cute!


And these are just stickers we got from this website. It could have been a little bigger, but it's cute.

34 Days and Counting

Which means that Monday we'll be at 30 days - or 1 month.

I've been predicting for several months that he'll be born on his due date, and he'll weigh between 7 lbs and 7 1/2 lbs.

My favorite pastime is still having my hand on her belly feeling him wiggle around. Poor little fella is squished, but trying to stretch. I think he's most comfy when she's sleeping on her side and he can sorta lie on the bed, too. That's when I can sometimes feel his little hand move along her side as opposed to usually feeling his leg/foot moving just above her belly button. He's been head down for a few weeks now, and the doc said he still is at the apt. today. I told him he better stay that way.

We're 90% sure her insurance and short term disability and maternity leave and such will all be just fine. Her current job ends June 30th. We have no idea if they'll find a different job for her to work on for a couple of weeks before Noah gets here or not. I'm kinda hoping not so we can chill and spend our time trying to find a couple of really good meals. Then we know even less about where she'll end up working after maternity leave - but one thing at a time.

My head is clear from the previous insanity. I'll never understand how hormones/PMS can actually affect thoughts. Thank God I usually know that's the cause and can try to ignore it, and it doesn't last more than a couple of days.

Weekend Update

It's been another mostly lazy weekend, well, other than the time yesterday spent shopping for the things we needed to be as ready as possible for Noah Maxx. A year ago I would not have imagined how cute I now find all the things we buy for him. We finally bought him a couple of little toys. We got all his grooming supplies. Nerdstar even had to get him some of those jean diapers for if/when we travel. We're good to go on cloth diapers, I think I've washed them enough and got them ready to use. Really, the only thing left to do is wash all his blankets, sheets and clothes.

I have an evil brain. And in 42 years I've mostly learned how to deal with it, when to pay attention, and when to ignore the hell out of it. Friday it really got bad. I ran across a couple of blogs by women whose babies had been stillborn. That just sort of got stuck in my brain. I won't elaborate, but it takes me a lot of energy to fight off those types of thoughts.

As I've mentioned before, Nerdstar is great about not worrying unless there's something concrete to worry about. I'm getting better at absorbing her calm.

That said, we do have a potential thing to worry about. She found out late Friday afternoon that her last day of working on this current project is supposed to be July 1. The problem with that could be that she's supposed to work until July 6 to hit the one year mark. We'll find out much more tomorrow (hopefully) about insurance continuance and short term disability and FMLA and all that good stuff.

We're not too, too worried about the money/job stuff. But it's not so fun waiting to find out exactly how things are going to go.

June Belly Pics

He's been head down for a while now, with his back and butt on her left side and arms and legs on the right and at the top. I keep telling her he's all squished in there. I try to rub his back and pat his little butt sometimes. I hope he doesn't find it annoying.

Here's a bonus pic of Ramen with Jo (our friends' little girl). He's always been great with little kids. He just takes it and then sneaks in licks of their hands and face when he can.

A Little Update

Day two of this and things are looking decent. It's possible this current project will last four or five more weeks, but there's really no telling what's up with the government. Not sure if they have a different company lined up to take over the project, and if they do, if that company has linguists ready to start working right away.

She talked with HR today and they did confirm that as long as she's employed with the company, even if not actively on a project, then benefits will be in effect. So that's good.

Her company is also working to find her a new gig that would kick in after maternity leave.

That's pretty much all we can ask at this point. We've been in similar situations in the past, that's how we've ended up moving around the country. Of course, before we didn't have a mortgage or a baby on the way. But again, we knew the choices we were making when we made them.

We've got a good six months worth of expenses saved up, we'll tighten our belts until it's safe to losen them again.

I think I've mentioned that one of the best things about Nerdstar is her ability to not worry. I generally do all of the worrying for both of us. But she's kinda influenced me, so I'll be like her and not worry until there's something concrete to worry about.